Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently had a string of good luck, and through some favors to my boss (who's a contractor) I will have access a full range of tools, two master carpenters and a couple afternoons to construct a large cage.
Right now, we have a ton of scrap wood (all non-pressure treated, ranging from pine to mahagony) and a few questions. We have a number of beams of spanish cedar...I have always avoided normal cedar as a substrate, and wonder if I should refrain from constructing with it? Secondly, I plan on using a quadruple coat of water-based polyurethane as a sealent- will this be sufficient for a high-humidity enclosure?
Thirdly, my current plan (still very rudimentary)involves a split cage, which will be bolted together. The exterior dimensions will run 4' X 3' X 22" (x2) with two open faces. By leaving blocks on all four corners of the open faces, I can use four sturdy bolts to join the two boxes into one enclosure with dimensions of 8' X 3' X 22". This will make transportation significantly easier, as well as help defray the considerable weight that will accumulate when we use hardwoods. Has anyone done anything of this nature before? My boss has even grander plans, which would involve a cage that breaks down for transportation even easier, screwing and unscrewing for convienence. I'm not sure that would be as simple as he anticipates. Will a plywood of some sort be alright for the floor after the polyurethane? Or should I look for some sort of laminate?
One of the halves will have a shelf horizontal along its length, 12" high and jutting out 18"...
I plan to heat with an appropriately sized pro-products radiant heat panel, mounted about a third of the way into one of the cages...(ambient room temperature in my house can drop significantly, and I want the cool side to still be warm enough.)
I'm planning on aluminium tracking with 1/4 inch sliding glass, a la my neodeshas...
The two extreme ends will also have either glass or plexi for additional visibility and light.
I'm debating just a one inch litter damn, or should I try for 3" sliding drawers? The drawers would of course greatly facilitate substrate changes, but would be frusterating with even a minimum of cage furniture. Or should I go for a recessed floor, to allow a ground level water dish?
I don't know...I'm really looking for feedback or experience of any sort- carpentry is not my forte, but I'll have access to some genuine master craftsmen, which should make the construction much simpler, but sadly none of them are herpers...so I need to have very specific goals.

Oh, by the way, it will be for an adult female papuan python, so I'm not worried about scratches (as would be the case from monitors.)

Any thoughts?

Thanks so much in advance,
-SWA

Wow! Sounds like you'll have all the resources to make a really nice cage. I'll try to remember your questions and respond to them. I'd skip using the Spanish cedar, even with the polyurethane, your other wood choices should be fine. I'd use a sturdy plywood for the base - at least 1/2" or 3/4" would be better. A triple coating of polyurethane should be satisfactory for sealing the cage, although you'd still need to seal the corners with aquarium-grade silicone because the water will still leak out of the seams, just not into the wood.

I personally don't like polyurethane and prefer to screw on pieces of appropriately-sized white tileboard since it makes for quicker construction. Also I usually try to landscape the insides of the enclosure with paint, various textures, and handmade pieces to build up the background. All of this is easier to do on a base of tileboard. As for making a knock-down cage, it can be done with furniture knock-down fasteners but you have to have the proper jigs and such to make cages using that type of hardware. For the sake of simplicity your basic idea of two halves being screwed together might be better.

Plexi side panels and the Pro-products heat panels sound like a good idea. As for the base, I've always liked the idea of some type of removalable tray or holder for the substrate but haven't made any cages with that setup simply because it's more complex. If you want the best all around setup I'd try to work in the removeable trays as they'll make cage cleaning a breeze compared to removing substrates from behind a litter dam and then trying to clean and rinse everything. Hope this helps.

Good luck and have fun,
Matt Campbell